A lot of factors come into play when we’re trying to move forward on something in life. One valuable tool for making progress is accountability. In its simplest form, accountability is just making a promise to do something, then having some way to track whether you actually do it.

Instead of tracking it yourself, it helps when someone else tracks it with you.

An accountability partner raises the bar. You might have tried this with exercise plans. While you might be tempted to skip a solo workout, you definitely think twice about rescheduling a tennis match because someone is counting on you.

When the stakes are higher or the goal is more complicated, an accountability partner does more than tracking and/or showing up. And that’s where an experienced coach comes into the picture. Being the perfect accountability partner is a coach superpower!

What Makes a Great Personal Accountability Partner?

First, there has to be mutual trust and respect. It’s got to feel safe, because it always feels vulnerable to invite accountability.

We have to be willing and committed to giving honest, direct feedback. We can be gentle, but we need to be truthful or else we’re no help at all.

We offer encouragement without judgment or attachment about the outcome.

It’s More Than a Checklist

Coaches know accountability is more than simply checking tasks off a list. We like to get in deep with all the subtle dynamics around your efforts. While we help track your progress, we also ask important learning questions to shed insight into your passion, your skills, your resistance. We help you rethink the steps you’re taking, offering fresh challenges and new slants. We help you re-engage with your goals when you’re struggling to focus.

A coach will dig a little deeper to help you understand your successes and your flops. A coach will ask you to reflect on what you are learning from those actions and inactions, and help you apply those insights going forward.

Accountability is quite a dance, and everyone has a different rhythm. As a coach, I’ve learned how to tune in to who you are and what makes you tick, so I can help you, with direct compassion, make progress on your goals and integrate the lessons you are learning along the way.

Yes, you read it right! I am celebrating the middle part of my year. I know most people are busy setting New Year’s resolutions. For me, this is the best time to evaluate the plans I made way back in September.

Whatever your preference, this is a great time to stop and check in on where you are.

TRY THIS: Set a 30 minute appointment with yourself in the next week. Hold your meeting in a quiet, distraction free space. Bring blank paper and your favorite writing/drawing tools. Start by closing your eyes and simply focusing on your breath. When you are ready, ask yourself a few of these questions:

What is important to me in this moment of my life?

What is humming along quite nicely?

What needs fine-tuning?

What would I love to DUMP?

What are the challenges and obstacles I am facing?

What are my goals or aspirations for the next year?

Who is on my success team?

When will I hire Mary? ;D

Write down or draw your answers. Remember, the most valuable answers come from your heart!

I’d love to hear what you discover. Use the comment section below or send me an email: Mary@coacholk.com

“Life is one transition after another” according to one of my wise friends who attended my free teleclass earlier this month. It is true. Some transitions we navigate are BIG – getting a new job or losing a job, becoming a parent or losing a parent, getting married or getting divorced!

When challenged by transitions, our natural human tendency is to RESIST change. We automatically tighten our grip on what is familiar when we face something new and unknown even when that unknown is something positive.

When we are unaware of this reaction, we struggle and make the transition even more challenging.

What helps everyone in any transition is to become aware –

How am I reacting to this change?

What are my options?

What do I want to retain?

What do I want to let go of?

What are my obstacles or challenges?

What obstacles am I creating?

How do I want to be in the midst of this change?

These are the kinds of questions that help my coaching clients successfully and powerfully navigate transitions. If you want more grace and less strain in your transitions, call me (952-939-0277). Let’s see if coaching is right for you.

From the moment you awake, you are moving from one thing to another. The routine tasks we perform every day are full of little transitions. If you’re like me, you’re usually thinking two steps ahead – and feeling 3 steps behind.

You’re brushing your teeth, thinking I am running late; I’ve got to get that presentation finished before noon; Remember to send an email to the car pool for tonight’s soccer game. You quickly say good morning to your family while rattling off a list of the day’s To Dos you want them to remember.

Whew, my mind is spinning just writing that!

Planning ahead is useful and necessary, but it often means I am not present in the moment. That makes life HARD and full of tension! So, what is a busy person to do? How can we move through transitions with more grace and ease?

BREATHE!

If you can anchor yourself by breathing in those moments in-between and really pay attention to where you are right then – your transitions will be smoother and you’ll be more centered. You will discover a quiet joy in those precious moments – even if it is fleeting.

So this week, experiment with breathing. Take a deep breath when you are brushing your teeth, commuting to work, or simply moving from one room to another. How does this one small thing make a difference in your daily transitions?

I would love to hear the results of your experiments. You can comment below or send me an email (Mary@coacholk.com).

It’s Fall in the heartland. The trees are changing from vibrant green to shades of red and gold. The days are shorter; the air is crisp. We are slowly and surely moving from the heat of summer to the chill of winter. FALL is a season of TRANSITION.

This month The Growing Edge Teleclass will explore TRANSITION. Sometimes they are challenging, sometimes they are graceful. They are inevitably part of the natural rhythm of life.

Join me on October 14 as we tap our collective wisdom and knowledge about navigating transitions.

• Why are some transitions smooth and easy?
• How come some are rough and require lots of effort?
• What makes a transition exciting?
• What has you dreading a transition?
• What resources do you count on when you are in the midst of a transition?

I will share some strategies for staying sure-footed as you dance with the rhythms of life’s transitions.

I promise that you will leave our conversation inspired and ready for any transition that comes your way (or is already underway!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I know it isn’t January but this is the time of year I stop and take stock of my life and my business. One of the things I do is set my goals and objectives for the next year.This month in the Growing Edge Teleclass my friend and colleague, Jim Earley [Trailblazer Coaching] will join me for a lively conversation about creating goals that engage and inspire.

Be sure to bring your goals to the conversation – especially if they are dragging you down. We guarantee that you will leave the conversation with a point of view that will inspire your success!

Join us for Goals that Get You Grooving and Moving!

Thursday, September 9 at 10:30 a.m. CT

https://coacholk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Olk-94-2k.jpg11272000MaryOlkhttps://coacholk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Coach-Mary-Olk-helv.pngMaryOlk2010-09-06 17:30:342016-09-25 10:27:38Goals That Get You Grooving - Free Teleclass

Despite what the calendar says, summer is officially over next week at our house when school starts again. We are making the most of the last few days of our relaxed routine with extra trips to the beach, staying up late reading or roasting marshmallows at a backyard bonfire, long walks around the neighborhood, and savoring the casual conversations with friends and neighbors.

We have plans for a fun-filled escapade to the Mall of America, a few last play dates, a camping expedition and a hiking adventure in the woods surrounding our neighborhood.

This week is a celebration of all things SUMMER – fun, spontaneity, adventure, connection, recreation!

How will you be celebrating summer?

Sunny summer regards,

https://coacholk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Olk-94-2k.jpg11272000MaryOlkhttps://coacholk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Coach-Mary-Olk-helv.pngMaryOlk2010-08-27 19:06:202016-09-25 10:57:02The End of Summer

Happy Mother’s Day Everyone! (one day late). I hope that you are taking some time to celebrate the wonderful women in your life. This week I was thinking about my Mom and appreciating the gifts she has given me over my lifetime, and then it hit me …

My Mom was my first life coach!

She was the first person who created a safe space for me to be all of me. She showed me that life was full of learning and that learning could be FUN! She saw my greatness when all I could see were my limitations. She nudged me out of my comfort zone, giving me opportunities to try things she had a hunch I would love. Most of all she loved me with out reservation or conditions.

Thanks Mom for giving me the best foundation for my life and my career!

Who was your first life coach?
What would a partnership with a coach give you today?

Those are some of the answers to that question around our house these days. Each answer gives clues about that person’s passion in that moment. It is delightful to witness how those passions blossom.

I love asking myself and my clients that question. It invites us to dream, to wonder, to change. The question nudges us to consider possibilities and assumes that there is always room to grow!

My husband is percolating on plans to ride his bicycle across America. My nephew would like to be a successful ballet dancer in New York. My thriving flight attendant friend looks forward to the day when she can return to the Missionary work that feeds her soul. When I grow up, I want to create a lucrative business cooperative for women entrepreneurs who are as dedicated to their families as they are to their work.

So how about you – What do you want to be when you grow up?

Image source: https://www.nbcolympics.com/freestyle-skiing/index.html

https://coacholk.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/toss.jpg400400MaryOlkhttps://coacholk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Coach-Mary-Olk-helv.pngMaryOlk2010-03-24 15:53:402016-09-25 10:30:58What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Now that we are almost done wrapping the presents, I have started to think about wrapping up the year. Most people have some kind of ritual or tradition of saying farewell to the year. During December, I offer my clients the opportunity to recap this year using The YAHOO/BOO HOO/AH-HAH list. (Try saying that 3 times fast.)

Under the YAHOO, we look at accomplishments, what you are most proud of, and any other items to celebrate; BOO HOO – goals not achieved, regrets, disappointments and any sad moments; AH-HAHs – key learnings or lessons this year offered.

Then my clients create a personal ritual for closing out the year. Once that is complete, we tackle setting intentions for the next year.

How will you wrap up 2009?

https://coacholk.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/toss.jpg400400MaryOlkhttps://coacholk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Coach-Mary-Olk-helv.pngMaryOlk2009-12-21 21:23:402016-09-25 10:31:34Wrapping Up The Year

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Testimonials from My Clients

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Rick Carson

There is no colleague I respect more than Mary Olk. She has an unwavering commitment to personal and professional growth for her clients and herself. She is a truly gifted inner guide—extraordinarily insightful, self aware, highly skilled, and wise. I am especially proud she has chosen to integrate the Gremlin-Taming® method into her own naturally potent style of facilitating others to tap into and channel their potential. Her clients are beyond fortunate to have her in their lives.

“Working with someone like me, not as goal oriented, is tough! But with Mary I learned you can be goal-oriented and it doesn’t have to be like you’re in the military.

She listens beautifully. She reflects it back with a question that makes me think about it in a way that I hadn’t. And she’s funny.”

Mary MogaHigher Education Administrator

Dayle Quigley

“I am somebody who needs homework. I need someone to say ‘Do X Y and Z and get back in touch,’ instead of ‘Think about this and we will talk.’ Mary structured things for me in that manner. Otherwise it is easy for me to put things on back burner.

There were two big main issues that Mary and I worked with: I had too much on my plate, and my marriage was blowing up. So we worked on both.

I gained a good sense of not only who I was but trusting that I had the answers, which is really where you want to get to: That you can trust yourself with the way you are feeling and that the decisions you are making are right for you.”

Dayle QuigleyHayward, Wisconsin, emergency room physician

Annemarie Estess

“I’ve pretty much doubled business over the course of working with her. I know it is tough to attribute it to one single thing, but I know with certainty that she is a part of what has allowed me to do that. And, working with Mary has helped me have much more authentic conversations with people in my life, whether those are people I’m dating, or my relatives, friends or colleagues. She’s helped me get a clear sense of my voice in all those types of relationship.

She has helped me get out of my own way on the goals that really, really matter to me.”

Annemarie EstessSan Francisco, small business owner and coach trainee

Gabriel Harren

“For sales people in general a great coach is an asset because we are forced to deal with negative emotions every day – there is a lot of rejection and fear. The resilience needed to withstand that is greater when you have an asset like Mary.

She helps me think through what is going on. If there is conflict with my values, she helps me articulate what is going on. From that we trade action steps to progress through a challenge, or take on an opportunity. She takes what is within me and helps me make sense of it and create actionable steps.

Mary does not bring a one-size-fits-all approach – this is a customized approach we have worked on over the past four years.”

Gabriel HarrenMinneapolis, Sales Rep and Entrepreneur

Jane Massengill

THREE WORDS: Professional, Humor, Authentic

Mary's sense of humor, coupled with her raw authenticity, gave me a huge play ground to be myself and to experiment with letting go of concepts about myself that no longer served me. Our work was, and continues to be, life-changing.

I send my closest friends and family to Mary when someone needs a coach. Enough said. I know you'll get nothing but excellence when you work with her.